The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is reporting that Wednesday marked the bloodiest day of the 18-month-old civil war with 305 people killed in the fighting. SOHR reported that 199 of the dead were civilians.
“If we count the unidentified bodies [which are not counted in official totals,] the figure will be much higher,” Rami Abdel Rahman of SOHR told the BBC. Continue reading
Three children from one family are among the eight dead in air strikes in the city of Aleppo, Syria. Activists are reporting that the government is engaging in a bombardment campaign against civilian areas of the city.
The UN has listed the death toll as more than 20,000 in Syria since March 2011. Activists have put the death toll at near 30,000 adding that 40 people died on Monday from government assaults. Continue reading
At least 30 Syrian civilians who had been lined up to put gas in their cars were killed when a government aircraft bombed the gas station.
Rebel forces told the BBC that civilians had been lined up for gas and diesel fuel when the aircraft dropped a barrel of explosives. The station, 20 miles from the Syria/Turkey border, was the only operating gas station in the region. Continue reading
Civilian casualities in Idlib and Hama have dramatically risen according to Amnesty International’s report that government forces are indiscriminately firing missiles and making air strikes into civilians neighborhoods.
The Amnesty International report says that the international community has not seen the war crimes happening in the two provinces because media outlets have been focused on the fighting in the larger cities of Damascus and Aleppo. Continue reading
Activists are reporting that the Syrian army has attacked a town that has been a major crossing into Jordan for civilians that are fleeing the country’s civil war. At least 20 government tanks have rolled into Tal Shehab, a Free Syrian Army held town.
The move by the government comes amid reports from Jordan that over 183,000 civilians have entered the country since the start of the war. The Jordanian government reports that as many as 1,000 refugees are daily crossing the border. Continue reading
Syrian troops have killed at least 19 people in shelling around Syria’s largest city of Aleppo according to activists. Most the people killed in the government assault were women and children.
One opposition activist reported the death toll from the Aleppo attack is 54.
In a surprising statement against a fellow Islamic leader, Egypt’s new President Mohammed Mursi is calling for Syrian President Bashir al-Assad to step down. Continue reading
The UN has reported that over 100,000 Syrians have fled the country in the wake of the increased fighting between government forces and the Free Syrian Army. The total almost doubled the overall number of civilians fleeing the country’s civil war.
The International Committee of the Red Cross is attempting to negotiate with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to allow humanitarian aid in the country. Al-Assad has previously resisted outside humanitarian assistance into the country claiming that the relief is just a “foreign plot”. Continue reading
Syrian President Bashir al-Assad made a public address on state run television where he rejected calls for a United Nations buffer zone to provide humanitarian aid to civilians impacted by the country’s civil war.
“Talk of buffer zones firstly is not on the table,” he said. “Secondly it is an unrealistic idea by hostile countries and the enemies of Syria.” Continue reading
A car bomb exploded in Damascus as a funeral procession passed killing 12 people and injuring 48. The bomb was reportedly placed inside a taxi that drove up to the procession. Reports say that several vehicles and buildings were damaged by the blast.
The attack came amid increased assaults between Syrian troops and Free Syrian Army rebel forces. Continue reading
Free Syrian Army sources are reporting that the Syrian government massacred 300 people in Darayya on Sunday claiming they were cleansing the area of “terrorist remnants.”
However, video footage being released is showing the bodies of women and children killed by the troops laying in the streets.
The chairman of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria told the BBC this could be a war crime. Continue reading
